Chapter 8 - File Number One Unveiled|
At precisely eight o'clock that evening, an anonymous account on X and several major national celebrity blogs dropped a massive video leak. It didn't need a lengthy caption; the footage spoke entirely for itself.
It was crisp, high-definition security footage from the VIP lounge of an elite downtown nightclub. In the video, Brandon—the heartbroken, tearful husband praying for his wife's return on social media—was aggressively kissing a young blonde woman against a leather booth. The timestamp burned into the corner of the video revealed the exact date and time: two months ago, the very night Emily was rushed to the emergency room for a threatened miscarriage.
To make matters infinitely worse for the Vales, the video was paired with a PDF document: a high-resolution scan of a credit card receipt totaling fifteen thousand dollars for a luxury Hermes handbag.
The card used? Emily Vance’s personal credit card.
The public reaction was instantaneous and terrifyingly brutal. The same internet mob that had condemned us hours earlier turned their pitchforks toward the Vale family with apocalyptic fury.
Patricia frantically tried to delete her original Facebook post, but it was far too late. Millions of screenshots had already been captured. By midnight, the stock price of Vale Real Estate—already hanging by a thread—plunged into a historic death spiral as nervous investors pulled out en masse.
“Mom...” Emily whispered in absolute shock, staring at the television screen as national news channels covered the cheating scandal. “Where on earth did you get that footage?”
“My private investigator has been tracking Brandon’s every move for six months,” I said, sipping my evening tea. “I was saving that footage for trial, but when they tried to play the moral high ground, I decided to pull the trigger early.”
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Suddenly, a loud, thunderous pounding rattled the front door of our mansion. Heavy, desperate fists slammed against the solid wood, accompanied by slurred, frantic screaming.
Brandon had arrived. And he was completely out of his mind.
